


Blue Skies Ahead

by reve_silencieux



Category: White Collar
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 15:55:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7514335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reve_silencieux/pseuds/reve_silencieux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castles in the sand might be even better than cappuccino in the clouds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue Skies Ahead

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aragarna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/gifts).



> Inspired by this [screencap](https://www.dropbox.com/s/n6u7lcnsec6jqj8/WG%20Beach.jpeg?dl=0)

Peter woke up to the feeling of something heavy weighing him down. He moved his arms and realized they were encased as well. Opening his eyes, he blinked at the bright sun, his eyes tearing, despite the fact that his sunglasses blocked him from the worst of it. The fog of sleep faded and he remembered he was at the beach.

Glancing down, he quickly found out why he could not move. 

“What the…”

His entire body from the neck down was covered with firmly packed sand.

A giggle erupted a few feet away and he looked up to see his son, sitting next to El, grinning like a baboon. El, for her part, was trying to contain her own laughter, holding up their camera and filming him.

“Hey, hon!” she called out and waved at him.

“Real funny,” he replied. “Whose idea was this?”

There were more giggles in response and he shook his head. Some of the sand shifted around him and he laid his head back down. He knew better than to completely disrupt the cocoon just yet, his son was enjoying the prank that he knew had to have been orchestrated by El and possibly others.

“This position suits you, Suit. The tyrannical government sticking its head in the sand, ignorant of the pain and suffering it inflicts on its people.”

Peter groaned and glanced to his left, where Mozzie was walking up. His jaw dropped, and his retort died on his tongue as he took in the con man’s attire.

“What on earth are you wearing?”

Mozzie stopped a few feet short of him, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, Suit.”

Peter understood that, having slathered sunscreen all over himself earlier, but Mozzie took it to a whole new level. The little guy’s nose was pure white, and he wore a straw hat (that honestly looked more like Neal’s style, but Peter knew better than to comment), and a bright blue long sleeve top. His swim trunks were equally bright blue and pink striped, but that wasn’t the issue.

The neon orange floaties Mozzie wore on his upper arms gave Peter pause, and a mental picture of the eccentric con man flailing in the ocean flashed through his head. He shuddered, and hoped the day wouldn’t end with a trip to the hospital, or worse, having to give mouth-to-mouth.

He momentarily glanced back toward little Neal and El, who had turned off the camera and was standing up, brushing sand off her legs. She held her hand out to their son. “Come on, Neal, let’s go play in the water.”

When they were out of sight, he sat up, the packed sand breaking away in chunks, crumbling to his side. He stood up and shook out his shirt, sand showering the ground. It was everywhere, clinging to arms and legs, and he knew he would still be finding it even when he got home.

“What are those?” he nodded towards Mozzie’s feet.

“Swim socks.”

Peter looked heavenward for a moment and rubbed his forehead. He could feel the beginnings of a familiar headache starting. “Dare I ask why?”

Mozzie held his head up high. “I don’t like the feel of sand between my toes.”

“Yet you ran away to a tropical island,” he replied dryly.

“Peter, give it up,” Neal called out. “He’s out of his natural habitat.” 

Glancing over to where Neal was helping Theo build an elaborate sand castle, then back at Mozzie, he sighed. He pointed a finger at his chest. “You are not allowed in the water with my son.”

“Oh, like it takes an Olympic swimmer to wade in less than a foot of water.” Mozzie rolled his eyes. “I’ll have you know Mr. Jeffries took me to the Y for lessons and I can swim just fine.”

“You expect me to feel comforted by that, when you’re wearing those?” Peter retorted, waving at the floaties. “My _three_ -year-old has them.”

“Exactly!” Mozzie exclaimed, his voice tinged with exasperation, and threw up his arms. “He shouldn’t be the only one with them. It’s better to be prepared than not, and I think you, of all people, Suit, would appreciate that.”

Peter resisted the urge to argue that a life jacket was more appropriate for a grown adult, but he bit his tongue. Right now, all he wanted to do was sit down with a cold drink, and enjoy the day without a Mozzie-induced headache, the kind he’d learned over the years were worse than the Neal-induced variety.

“I think I’m going to go where I’ll be appreciated,” Mozzie said, with a sniff.

_On Mars_ , Peter supplied silently.

Mozzie walked off, heading over to where Diana was laid out on a beach chair, shaded by an umbrella and reading a book. The strange relationship between the two still amazed him, even more than the friendship Mozzie shared with his wife. How Diana had not killed Mozzie over the years was beyond him.

Peter walked over to where Neal and Theo were building their castle. Theo was packing sand into a bucket and Neal was carefully carving something into the side of a turret.

The closer he got, the more obvious it was that Neal, as usual, had taken the task to the extreme. It wasn’t just a simple sand castle made from a few buckets. Oh no, there were walls, expertly carved with stone lines, steps leading up to another level, a courtyard, several towers and turrets, numerous windows, and even a roof with chimneys.

He stared, openly gaping at the exquisite detail.

“Are you kidding me?”

Neal looked up and grinned. “You like?”

Peter just shook his head, amazed. “How did you do that?” 

His friend shrugged. “It’s not that hard. Theo’s a big help.”

The boy glanced up from his work and waved.

“It’s incredible.” Peter circled the castle and stopped on the other side. He paused, staring at what appeared to be the front. Peter wasn’t up on his European architecture, but something about it was familiar.

“Have I seen this before?”

Neal beamed like a proud peacock. “It’s Neuschwanstein, a castle in Bavaria. Disneyland used it as inspiration for their Sleeping Beauty Castle.”

Of course. How could Peter have not known that? He mentally rolled his eyes, but really, it was too impressive to harass him.

“Do you want to help?” Neal asked, glancing up with a wide smile. 

“Oh no…” Peter waved a hand in the air. “I’ll leave that up to the professionals. With my luck, everything would fall down if I touched it.”

Neal chuckled. “It’s just sand, Peter. It can be rebuilt. Besides, sand castles always fall down eventually.”

“Maybe so, but I’m not going to take my chances. You two have fun. I think I’ll go wade in the water with Elizabeth and Neal.”

“Don’t forget his floaties!”

Peter gave Neal the stink eye, who was grinning from ear-to-ear, and walked off.

As he got closer to the water, he could hear little Neal shrieking in delight as the waves lapped at his feet. El was holding onto his hand tightly and pointing at the ground a few feet ahead of them. Neal carefully toddled over and bent over, picking up a shell. Elizabeth oohed and ahhed appreciatively when he held it up to her.

She caught sight of him and smiled. Neal turned around at her urging and ran towards him.

“Daddy!”

Peter picked him and settled him on his hip. “What do you have there?”

“Seashell!”

It was a smooth, open shell, about three inches wide and a pearlescent light blue. “Wow, that’s one pretty shell. Good find, kiddo.”

Elizabeth walked up and he wrapped his other arm around her. He dropped a kiss on her cheek and looked down on his family, feeling happy and content.

“Are we having fun?”

“Yeah!!” Neal exclaimed, while Elizabeth leaned her head against his shoulder.

He looked down at El. “How about you? Good day?”

El smiled. “The best.”

Peter would have to agree. He had his whole family here, and he had not a care in the world. Today was definitely a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine Neal's castle is as good as this one:
> 
>   
>  [](http://smg.photobucket.com/user/reve_silencieux/media/Public/2e009_Neuschwanstein-Castle_zpsupbzxszh.jpg.html)   
>    
> 


End file.
